Investigation of the Potential Effect of Complement 5 on Transplantation Outcome by Bioinformatics Tools

Abstract

Introduction: Activation of the complement system following transplantation may result in allograft rejection. Our study aimed to evaluate the potential relationship between factors affecting kidney transplant success and complement 5 (C5) using bioinformatic tools.

Methods: GenCards and Genemania were used to provide the genetic functional information belonging to the C5 gene, and genomic browsers of STRING, UCSC, KEGG were used to reveal interactions with other genes and various pathways. MiRDB was used to specify the miRNAs that were associated with the C5 gene. The UniProt database was used to determine the tissues that expressed the C5 gene using protein-protein interactions.

Results: In the bioinformatic analyses performed, high levels of C5 gene expression were found in the naiive kidney. Twenty-five genes were found to be strongly associated with C5. Fifty-four miRNAs targeting the C5 gene were specified. The C5 gene was found to be involved in biologic processes such as complement activation (FDR = 6.46e-22), complement binding (FDR = 2.20e-06), cytolysis (FDR = 4.82e-14), regulation of complement activation (FDR = 4.08e-24), positive regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor production (FDR = 0.0430), regulation of macrophage chemotaxis (FDR = 0.0447), activation of the immune response (FDR = 1.26e-13), leukocyte-mediated immunity (FDR = 1.41e-09), innate immune response (FDR = 3.05e-09), allograft rejection (FDR = 2.40e-12), oxidative injury response (FDR = 0.00016), and trigerring of the beginning of the complement cascade (FDR = 0.0244).

Conclusions: The data obtained in this study will be used to guide future experimental investigations in the field of transplantation, and these data will give physicians with insight into allograft status following transplantation.